Em, a reader and real-life recipe user, left a follow-up question to an earlier Query post about loose tea vs. bagged tea. Here's what she had to say:
I work in a tea store (Teavana) and I am now a tea snob, if you will. meaning I don't like tea bags. Do you have ANY suggestion of how I could still use loose leaf rather than bags? We have an excellent Earl Grey Creme that would be stellar, or else we also have an Earl Grey White that would be full of antioxidants too!
Hi there, Em! Thanks for writing in. Great question!
I've tried using loose tea in a couple recipes, but it just didn't work well for me. The tea's flavor didn't disperse evenly in the cookies, and there was an unpleasant twiggy texture. Grinding up loose tea in a food processor took care of the twigginess, which helped, but the tea was still a little too grainy and unpleasant to eat.
The reason I use bagged tea in my cookie recipes is that I found bagged tea imparted a good flavor and was just the right consistency for eating. There are some really neat, funky loose tea flavors out there that aren't available in bag form, so I can understand why you'd want to use the loose tea in a cookie recipe.
The key to making cookies with tea is to make sure the tea itself is finely ground and absolutely free of twigs. Perhaps you could try grinding loose tea in a blender, which should give you a much finer grind than a food processor would. You might also try pulverizing loose tea with a mortar and pestle to achieve the right texture.
I hope that helps!
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